Lurking Fear

At least there weren't fake lasers, the group of bratty ill-prepared teenagers on a trip, excessive profanity. It did have some stereotypical "cool tough guy" acting by some of the actors (eg Catherine played by Ashley Laurence kept racking the slide of her pistol almost every time she drew it). Still she was hot.

I spent quite some time looking for this film, only because it stars Jeffrey Combs. Ever since the brilliant "Re-Animator", I suffer from an unhealthy obsession to track down all the flicks Combs ever starred in… This is a rather amusing production, loosely based on yet another H.P. Lovecraft tale. The plot involves small time crooks treasure-hunting for big loot that is supposedly hidden in a corpse buried in the Leffert Corners cemetery. Coincidentally, the inhabitants of this little town are fighting a bloody battle with carnivore demons on that same cemetery. The budget is obviously low and so most of the make-up effects look more cheesy than scary. There's practically no tension or humor, only a bit of entertaining demon action and fairly good acting performances by a decent B-movie cast. Besides Jeffrey Combs, who stars as the physically weak but sarcastic town's doctor, "Lurking Fear" also has Hellraiser's Ashley Lauren as a demon-butt-kicking babe. There also is a small role for Vincent Schiavelli! The name might not mean much to you but you'll surely recognize his face when you're familiar with B-movies.

Hunky Blake Adams plays John Martense, a young man just released from prison. He has no prospects, but good fortune could come his way. He seeks out an old associate of his father, an undertaker named Knaggs (Vincent Schiavelli), who lets him know that in the remote community of Leffert's Corner, there is a cemetery containing a corpse stuffed with money. Martense arrives in this village to find a select few individuals preparing to do battle with the monsters that have been feeding on the citizens for the past 20 years. He is soon joined by Bennett (Jon Finch), his late fathers' ruthless former partner who, quite naturally, also wants the money.

This one has to rate as a misfire. C. Courtney Joyner directs from his own screenplay of the H.P. Lovecraft short story, and it's highly uninspired. It's simply too hard to care about any of the characters here, or the tale being told. One wonders what might have been had Stuart Gordon, creator of some of the best Lovecraft adaptations out there, done this film as was originally planned. A shame, really, because "Lurking Fear" has some amusing and striking Old World type atmosphere (this was shot on location in Romania). But Joyner fails to create any suspense or much in the way of horror. The creatures are rather unimaginative looking. Some gore lovers might be mildly appreciative, though.

Ever reliable Jeffrey Combs is entertainingly eccentric as a local doctor, and it's fun to see "Hellraiser" female lead Ashley Laurence play a badass sort of character. The full name of the man played by the distinctively featured Schiavelli is Skelton Knaggs, a nod to another character actor from genre films of the 40s. (Look, also, for the name "Michael Terence Ripper" in a ledger.) Finch is okay, no more, as the human antagonist. Allison Mackie, Joyners' cousin, gets to have some fun as one of the baddies. Paul Mantee is very good as the local priest. The less said about Adams, the better.

Decent music by Jim Manzie and a short running time (just over 77 minutes) help to keep this from being particularly painful, but if one wants a Lovecraft fix, they can do so much better.

Four out of 10.

This movie was typical of a Full Moon Productions movie with average acting at best and a script that could have been better written. However the special effects were good especially the monsters and the cinematography was good as well.

This movie has buried treasure, gangsters, monsters under a town, is based off of an H.P. Lovecraft story, and stars Jeffery Combs (Re-Animator). Sounds fun right? Wrong. This movie has everything going for it but it fails miserably. The lack of execution is pretty blatant, from the editing, directing and acting, it all falls flat. Even the great Jeffery Combs could not rescue this pile of not so pleasant things. Our main character is probably the worst actor in the film but hey whatever. His character is just released from prison and is in search for his Dad's long lost buried treasure that just so happens to be buried in a town with a bunch of monsters hiding beneath the local cemetery. Eventually are Hero, a bunch of gangsters and some locals barricaded them selves in a church trying to survive from the monsters. This movie should of been Night of the living dead mix with evil dead, but instead we get a boring snooze fest. The reason why it fails is because its trying to be an action horror comedy, but fails at all three. At first glance the film seems interesting but it gets bogged down by its convoluted plot in the second act and you don't even care how this movie ends by the time you get to the third act. The only entertainment in this movie is Jeffery Combs. He is plain awesome. This movie is for Jeffery Combs completist only.

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